Graph of the Week: Growth of North American Auctions

The North American collector car auction market has grown by 39 percent over the last two years in terms of the number of vehicles offered. Leading the charge are German cars, with four of the top five biggest increases in vehicle count being German makes. Part of this sudden surge of German cars into the collector car market can be explained by the fact that Hagerty’s German Collectibles Index, which tracks the values of 21 representative models, is up 135 percent over the same two-year period.

A whopping 91 percent more BMWs are coming to auction in 2015 than in 2013, while strong Porsche prices have brought 911s, 914s ,928s and others out of the woodwork and off to auction for a 67 percent growth in volume. It’s much the same story with Ferrari, the only non-German make with the same kind of volume growth, as value increases for even entry-level cars like the 308 are driving people to sell.

For the sake of comparison, American marques Ford and Chevrolet slightly lagged overall growth, with increases of 37 percent and 34 percent over the same period, respectively. Overall, several new sales from auction companies such as Mecum have made for greater capacity to move vehicles and have given sellers a greater choice of venue, while higher values in certain segments like the German car market and the Ferrari market are encouraging owners to sell.